All Things Bright and Beautiful

In January, is there anything more refreshing that "bright and beautiful"?

 Adam brought these flowers home on Thursday. Every Thursday morning our local grocery, Food Lion, gives away their "old" flower arrangements to the earliest customers who ask. Isn't that lovely?
Last week (that's 10 days ago!) he brought home these:

 They're still brightening my studio right now.

I started spinning again, just a little. I chose some dark brown fleece that was already cleaned and picked.

 It doesn't look as dark as it really is. I find a nest of dizzed fleece such a pretty, perfect thing. I haven't spun any roving in about 9 months, but it was easy to pick it back up again.

I've been craving an ice cream cone. In January. I know, there's no excuse for that kind of crazy! Adam bought the ice cream, and I said I would make home made cones ... and I did! 

 They're very good, and the recipe is from Food Wishes.  I do recommend it.

Church this morning was lovely. Our sweet people love to fellowship with each other, and it's a joy to be part of that! But now the day is turning cold ... very cold tonight ... and we're hunkered in the house, anticipating warming activities like hot cocoa, popcorn, a good movie, a snugly robe and slippers, snoozy dogs. But Adam is cutting up a pineapple!

 It's a perfect pineapple, and a very healthy snack.

 Last year I transplanted half of my much-beloved Creeping Fig plant into the ground in front of the house, which is south-facing. I hoped it might survive winters there and begin to climb up the house a little. Well ... it is!

Just a little so far, and it probably won't thrive well with our winters, but maybe in a little corner it will look this pretty. I think it's such a sweet  plant.

Tomorrow I'm deviating from our usual Bible study topic. Adam preached recently about turning our fears/anxieties into prayers, as David did. Writing them down as prayers, speaking as David did. You can hardly go wrong with that kind of prayer. I did this with some of the heavy heartaches I'm struggling with lately, and it helped a lot. I felt assured that God had heard me, and I felt much more peace that the problems were in His hands. What relief! Years ago, it was bitterness that was eating away at me on the inside, but in recent years, it's anxiety, sorrow, worry. Surely it's not supposed to eat away at me either!

 Adam made me a cool leather book for which I'd not yet found a good purpose. Now it will be my Fears-Into-Prayers book. I want to be more devoted to praying fervently and long for inner sorrows that I can't share with others, but that I desperately need God's intervention to help -- and not just help the situation, but help my hurting soul too. Here's the book:

When I write my prayers in it, I try to write in the manner David did -- very personal, very pleading, very emotional, brutally honest. I hope I stick with it.

January can be a dreary month. I hope you have some bright and beautiful things in your January that help you through!

What Do We Say in Suffering?

It's a week of suffering. Friends in our state and our county are emerging from the ravages of a hurricane -- a Category 1 storm with Category 4 storm surge, we're told. Some neighbors have lost everything they own. When you don't have money for next week's groceries, how do you rebuild? Where do you live while you rebuild? Who will help you?

This is the restaurant where Anna and Gramm had their rehearsal dinner.
Those are supposed to be roads all around.
(photo credit: Larry Summers)

But I'm in Mississippi, helping Anna. She and Gramm are tenderly caring for a beloved family member who is ill. They're both working too. I came to clean their home, do their laundry, clean out the refrigerator, feed them, love them. 

These are only two kinds of suffering; turn on the news and find more. You have your own suffering too. What do we say when we suffer?

We say, "Why?" Or if you're a person of faith, "Why God?" Or if you're a Christian, "Why, Jesus?" We may scream, "Help me!" or "Save me!" "Take me out of this horrible place in my life!"

I was up about 4:00 this morning. I've slept in five different beds in the past week, away from home. The morning's peaceful routine of reading my Bible is so calming, so I turned to today's chapter, John 12 ~~

Jesus knows He's about to be crucified, a horrific, degrading death in itself. On top of that, He'll have mountains of our sins piled onto Him, to bear into Hell on His shoulders so He can get rid of them once and for all. What a thing for a God to do! 

"Now My soul is troubled," He says. Of course.
"What shall I say?" Jesus asks.  In His suffering, what does He say?  What should we say when we suffer?

"Father, save Me from this hour"?
"Father, save me from this flooding and destruction."
"Father, save me from losing my home."
"Father, save me from cancer."
"Father, save me from watching my loved one die."

Jesus says no. In suffering, He refused to say, "Save me, Father," because He knew the Father would do it. Then we would all have been lost forever, banned from heaven. 

Instead, Jesus said, "Father, glorify Thy Name." 

It is so very hard to say anything other than "Save me!!" when we're going under. Peter yelled it, and Jesus saved him. Sometimes "Save me, Father!!" is the automatic distress call; we can't help it. But if we have time to think, it can be better to say, "Father, glorify yourself in my suffering. Use it to show who You are and what you can do. Use it to show other people your love. Use it to show how You can transform the human soul. Use it to show your power. Use it in ways I can't even imagine yet." 

Or like Jesus, "Use my suffering to save others into heaven."

Their Desired Haven

We've been in West Virginia now for two nights and are settling in. I decided to evacuate from Hurricane Florence early on, and Adam agreed later. We drove up separately on Tuesday, each with two dogs. West Virginia feels safe and far from the devastating storm.

This morning at last I sat down to read my Bible a little. Daily routines are difficult to maintain during times of great stress. The hurricane is very large and strong; our county has a mandatory evacuation. It's likely our property and house will flood. The last couple of days there, I silently said good-bye to so many little things -- not the house so much, because we've moved about 15 times in 29 years -- but little items that I've carried with me through those years. Tea cups. My popcorn maker. My old trunk. My wedding dress. Art work and photographs. Good-bye. I'd be saying good-bye to them sometime in the next 30 years anyway. It's good to get a practice run in. God is wise.

I wanted to read from the psalms because David understands anxiety and fear so well -- running from the storms of life. On my way to Psalm 32 ("You are my hiding place ..."), my eye stumbled on Psalm 107. God often leads me to the Scripture I really need. Here it is:

"Those who go down to the sea in ships, 

who do business on great waters,

they have seen the works of the LORD,

And His wonders in the deep. 

For He spoke and raised up a stormy wind,

Which lifted up the waves of the sea.

They rose up to the heavens, and they went down to the depths.

Their soul melted away in their misery ...

Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,

And He brought them out of their distresses.

He caused the storm to be still,

So that the waves of the sea were hushed.

Then they were glad because they were quiet;

So He guided them to their desired haven.

Let them give thanks to the LORD for His lovingkindness,

And for His wonders to the sons of men!"

This morning when I checked the weather models at 6:00 it seems that maybe the outlook for our house was slightly improved, less probability of surge through our floorboards, slightly less rain to flood the property. This is good.

But God is good either way. He can "cause the storm to be still." But He can also destroy our home. He is good either way. His afflictions are designed for our good as much as His blessings are. The last destroying hurricane in Pamlico County transformed our community (as disasters often do), drawing neighbors together, forging bonds of help and love, causing some to be tender to the needs of others, letting everyone see the wonder of rescue workers -- and perhaps helping us all to hold onto our worldly possessions a little more lightly. It would be better if we did and learned these things without the assistance of hurricanes.

We don't know what we'll find when we return home after this storm. It's set to make landfall tonight. Please pray for those who stayed (many did) and will suffer through the screaming winds, the crashing trees, the rising water.

I'm glad to be in my desired haven. Thank you, Lord, for kind family and beautiful mountains. 

 When Adam drove on Tuesday, he caravaned with Dave, a 90-year-old friend who also needed to evacuate with his car and his cat. Dave has been a trooper, coming to a strange place and staying with people he doesn't know.

 My mother has a sweet, loving new corgi, Bonnie.

A pretty kitty adopted her front porch. Mother's calling her Clyde.

Ned and Baby are staying in a pasture by my mother's house. They are not happy. Adam sits with them.

This is my sister-in-law's kitchen. I hope she doesn't mind my posting this :) It's another place that is so peaceful to me. How many hours have I spent here, chatting with her and my brother about life's ups and downs? She has such a gift of hospitality and has welcomed us to her kitchen with warm bread and farm-fresh veggies, fruit pies and fresh milk, many, many times. We've packed this kitchen with teenagers who are now elsewhere, but the love and welcome remain.

Pray for all of us as we return next week to begin piecing our lives back together.

"I am exceedingly afflicted; Revive me, O LORD, according to Thy Word."

I'm reading in Psalm 119 now. The verse above caught my mind this morning. I cannot say that I myself am "exceedingly afflicted" right now -- right now -- but I have some friends who are. And I've been there. And I bet you have too.

I have friends in church work who are suffering, who have been booted from their beloved work and beloved people; who are so afflicted by the church politics that they would willingly shake the dust from their church shoes and be done with it!; who are soon to leave their ministry and are searching for another place; who simply have been laid off from their secular jobs and are worried about the future. All these, in my small circle of friends! I hurt for them. I hurt for their wives and families.

Another pastor friend recently shared comforting verses from Matthew 6.

 These verses have been my old friends for many years. I have read and marked and reread and memorized and dug out all the comfort I can from them. Yet, as God's Word always does, they continue to give and give.
To aid in memorization, I wrote out the words:

 Memorization is helped by writing and underlining and circling words, and keeping this little sheet in my Bible to remind me not to let it slip from my mind.

Notice above the words, "But seek first ..."? I didn't need to write out the remainder of that verse because it is a song. And words committed to song are stuck in the mind forever.

I've been trying to comfort some of my afflicted friends lately. Psalm 37 is another passage presenting itself to me for consideration over and over. "Do Not Fret," it says. Don't fret because of evildoers, because they are short-lived. Don't fret because of those who aren't afflicted like you -- be secure in God's care for you. Don't fret -- it will only make you as evil as those who are afflicting you! (That last one is so true.)

The answer to fretting about these situations is to calm your soul with trust in God. Delight in God because He is the one possession no one can take from you. And when you delight in Him, He in turn provides you with everything you need. If you are losing something you've loved it's because God has decided you don't need it right now.

It's so difficult to look at the evil that others are doing to you (especially if they are fellow-Christians) and say, "God is allowing them to do this. God is using their actions to move me on to where He really wants me to be." The anger is like a itch that demands to be scratched over and over. Don't scratch!

What is God's Word, when we are afflicted? It's the salve, the balm that we need. Don't indulge in anger; commit to forgiveness. Don't allow fear and anxiety; fight them as much as you can with the memorization of God's own words. Don't roll your eyes when I say that until you have diligently tried it yourself; it works.

If you pass the afflicted hours/weeks/months with prayers of forgiveness for those who harm you, and with a deep, steady commitment to God's Word, you'll find that you emerge on the other side of this dark valley a much better person. It's a time of spiritual growth and enrichment. You will be proving that God's plans (even the hard ones) are for your good. I say this all in love because I've been there too, and I will probably be there again. When I am, somebody please remind me of all this truth!

Easter Timeline

Recently we studied this topic during our Tuesday night Bible study at church, and it was so fun and interesting that I had to do it as a blog post -- if only for my own enjoyment, and to record my thoughts. Have you ever pondered what happened when, on Easter morning?

Mary came first.

All four gospels record the events of Easter morning. Remember -- the Jewish day went from sunset to sunset. So "Sunday morning" (or, the end of the Sabbath) started for them as soon as the sun set on (what we would call) Saturday evening. With that in mind, it seems to me that the first event of Easter morning was:
1) The stone is rolled away and the guards are stunned, and Jesus is resurrected. (Matthew 28:2 - 4). This event occurs before anyone comes to the tomb to visit. It happens while it is still dark, in the night before Sunday morning. If we think of Jesus rising with the sunrise, we're wrong.
Next:
2) Mary Magdalene comes alone to the tomb (John 20:1). It was already Sunday ("the first day of the week"), but that only means that the sun had set Saturday evening. She comes in the dark. John notes that it is "early." Mary might have come at midnight, or sometime in the middle of the night. Perhaps she couldn't sleep? Perhaps she was worried because Jesus's body had been hastily prepared for burial and she wanted to get a jump-start on that job? Was she simply mourning? For whatever reason, she came alone, in the dark, to a cemetery (a rock face probably lined with tombs). She found the stone rolled from the entrance. She assumes since the stone is moved, the body is stolen. She doesn't go inside the cave. She runs to Peter and John (who are probably asleep at their homes) and tells them the body has been stolen.  John does not say it's sunrise yet, so I'm assuming all this happens in the dark.

Mary says to John and Peter, "...and WE do not know where they have laid him." It's possible that even at this point, Mary is not alone but is with a group of women. Just because one of the gospel writers says certain people are at a location doesn't mean they are the only ones. It simply means those people are there. However, this interpretation doesn't fit well with later events.

It's also possible that Mary (and the other women) leave their homes while it is still dark (as John says), but arrive at the tomb after the sun is up. The other gospels indicate that a group of women (including Mary Magdalene) come to the tomb after sunrise with spices for the body. Mark (16:3) tells us that the women are wondering "who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?" If Mary is among them and she's already been to the open tomb, why would she be wondering how to move the stone? In order for Mary to participate in this conversation, others must have convinced her that she visited the wrong tomb in the dark, an unused tomb, and assumed it was Jesus's tomb.

However -- Mark says this group of women enter the tomb, see an angel, and are told Jesus is miraculously alive. If so, this simply cannot be the same tomb visit that Mary did in the dark. She left the tomb that time thinking the body had been stolen, and she did not enter the tomb that time. So, I'm inclined to think Mary did a solo tomb visit first, and returned later with a group of women after sunrise to rewrap the body, convinced that she'd visited the wrong tomb earlier.

Mark (16:9) seems to make a special note to the reader that Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene alone, and then later to others, after she'd reported to them.
Mark also says (15:47) that Mary Magdalene and Mary Joses's mother looked on as Joseph and Nicodemus laid Jesus's body in the tomb on Friday (before the Sabbath) "to see where He was laid." Mary wanted to be sure of the location. This was a tomb location they were unsure of at first. On Friday the women were already making plans to care for the body.

After Mary's first visit, what happens next is:
3) Peter and John run to the tomb at her prompting. (John 20:3-10) This account is only found in John, which makes sense since he's one of the two disciples involved. It's quite detailed. John outruns Peter and arrives first at the tomb, but doesn't go in. (Remember than if a Jewish man is in contact with a dead body, he becomes unclean for a period of time.) But when impulsive Peter arrives, he passes John and runs into the tomb. He sees the linen wrappings folded neatly. This made an impression because John describes it. Why would a body thief fold the wrappings so carefully? (Indeed, isn't it a lovely mental image to think of Jesus, newly resurrected, standing by the stone bed, carefully wrapping his bedclothes in the dark before he went to walk about? Did He do it because it was a good thing to do? Or so that these two men could see it and made deductions from it?)

John sees the wrappings and "he believes." But I'm not quite sure what he believes, because in the next sentence we're told (by John) that he and Peter "as yet did not understand ... that He must rise again from the dead." It seems John believes what Mary has told him: the body is gone. But resurrection? The men can't conceive of that yet. Mary didn't either. And their next actions (I think) show that lack of understanding; they split up and go back home. If it's still dark, they're probably going back to bed.

Are they worried that the body is missing? Do they begin to worry that they'll be accused of stealing it?

4) The disciples and followers gather somewhere in one place. All four gospel sources (Matt 28:8, Mark 16:10-11, Luke 24:9, John 20:18) indicate that the disciples are gathered together, mourning. Luke says the women reported the resurrection "to the eleven and all the rest." This means that sometime after Mary's first visit and after Peter and John's run to the tomb, the disciples gather as a group. Something has prompted them to meet and discuss things. Is it the apparent theft of the body? There is nothing to indicate at this point that anyone thinks Jesus is alive. They just know the body is missing. Mary saw it first. Peter and John went to check. Sure enough -- it's gone. What are they going to do? As they are meeting and talking, the group of women take spices to the tomb ...

5) The women take spices. They come "when the sun had risen" (Mark 16:2), "as it began to dawn" (Matt. 28:1), "at early dawn" (Luke 24:1). This seems distinct from Mary's visit, which was in the dark. All four writers make a point of what time it is. Here are the women: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary James's mother, Salome, and 'other women.' They wonder how the stone will be removed. They anticipate finding the body, because they bring spices for it. Matthew says an angel speaks to them, telling of resurrection. Mark says the angel is inside the tomb. Luke says there were two angels inside the tomb. John says that Mary also saw the two angels inside the tomb when she is eventually left there alone again.

The women are instructed by the angels that Jesus is resurrected, that He had told them this would happen, that He will meet his disciples in Galilee, and that the women are to hurry and tell the disciples that Jesus is alive. They clearly do this. Luke says the women's words "appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them." Mark notes that when Mary reported to the disciples that He was alive, "they refused to believe it." Matthew says that Jesus appeared to the women while they were on the way to the disciples, "and they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him."

Mark, however, gives this interesting piece of information: the women fled from the tomb after the angels talked to them, "for trembling and astonishment had gripped them." These women were terrified of the miraculous spiritual events that had just happened. They were already in shock from the crucifixion of two days before. They'd come to apply spices to a body; instead they were addressed by angels! Mark says: "and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid." You can hardly blame them. When they do decide to tell the disciples, their words are rejected and they're counted as idiots. Jesus has to appear to the disciples Himself on Sunday evening before they will believe. But the women apparently delay relaying their message for a time.

6) Mary speaks with Jesus. John tells us this sweet account. I place it last because it seems the other women have left the tomb. Mary has already been here once in the dark, run back to Peter and John, come back with a group of women (who've now run away in fear), and is emotionally exhausted, sitting by the empty tomb. Even after the angels' words, she thinks the body is stolen, and she is weeping. When Jesus is standing by her, she thinks he is the gardener ... and she still thinks the body has been stolen! Really? When asked why she's crying, she says to the supposed gardener, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him." Then she says to the supposed gardener, "If you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away." She doesn't believe the angels. She doesn't believe the empty tomb or the folded cloths. No, she has to see Jesus in the flesh herself, before she'll believe. She's not much different from Doubting Thomas, is she?

In summary, what strikes me from this study is how nobody considered resurrection. They all assumed the body was stolen, i.e., that Jesus's body didn't leave the tomb on its own two legs, but that somebody carried it away. It took a lot to convince them! I love thinking about the various people coming to the tomb, drawn by God to come witness and not-believe. We think of Jesus rising from the dead as the sun comes up, but it didn't happen that way. He rose in the deep dark of night, when nobody knew it was happening. There was an earthquake, and the stone rolled away, and the angels came, and the guards fainted away, and Jesus quietly folded his grave clothes and left the tomb. The next steps there were Mary's, wondering in the darkness if she'd found the right tomb. From then on, it's a story of repeated disbelief.  No one believed  until he/she had seen Jesus.  Jesus finally appeared to the men on Sunday evening. I bet that was a rough day for the women!

We take resurrection for granted. We glibly say, "Jesus rose from the dead," as if that's the most common thing on the planet. But it's not, and if we witnessed a real, bodily resurrection ourselves, we'd be fainting and screaming and running too. And we wouldn't believe it, no matter who told us, until we'd seen and touched and talked to the resurrected person ourselves. Mary had quite a morning! First to the tomb. First to see Jesus, and therefore first to believe. First to say, "I have seen the Lord!"

In the Dark Hours of the Night

It's 12:15. Just after midnight. I stayed up until 11:15, knitting, trying to become sleepy enough so that when I did go to bed, I would fall asleep. My stomach hurts from so much churning, and the churning is from anxiety. There are things to worry about, and it doesn't much matter what they are this time; in a few years it will be a new thing to stress over. But the stress, the anxiety, the churning, will feel the same. It's felt the same for years, on nights like this.

When I flicked off the light and lay there and almost drifted into sleep several times between 11:15 and 12:15, each time my nervous, frenzied brain would wake me with a start. It's just fear. Sometimes I deal with it better, and sometimes I deal with it worse, like this time. I recited the Scripture I presently have memorized, and it's a good one -- "For this reason (because you cannot worship God and money) I say unto you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or drink, nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor do they gather into barnes. Yet your heavenly Father takes care of them." That's as far as my memory could get.

I imagined Jesus speaking to me, just to me. "Do NOT be anxious." Worries are so much worse in the middle of the night. My heart is unreasonable and will not be consoled. "He has it all in hand." 'Then why is it falling apart?' I ask. I bring to mind the consolations that friends have shared in recent days, especially one from an old saint. "Try not to worry about things so much, and if you do, remember that He has it all under control." That's a paraphrase. The mind paraphrases a lot after midnight.

Again, this isn't about this particular trouble. There have been literally hundreds of troubles over the past thirty years. It's about how I handle the trouble. Sometimes it seems to slip off my back and leave me unscathed. This time, my heart is trembling and palpitating, my throat feels closed, I can't eat much. I feel sick. And my brain jerks me awake when I'm exhausted.

So I sit up now. It's 12: 26. My old trusty Bible lies by me, and I will read. I will read until I feel reassured, until the Holy Spirit calms me and takes charge of my weak spirit again. Anxiety is such a useless state. Reading the Bible puts one's life in perspective. When I read about how God rescues millions of people from slavery, or saves a man from death, or keeps His promises over and over, then my little trouble seems manageable. I know it's manageable to Him.

Then why does my heart still quiver? Why am I so afraid? My eyes drift over the pages of the psalms, looking for words for my situation, comfort for my trouble. Some are so pertinent that they're sharp. I will not quote them here. But "In my trouble I cried to the LORD, and He answered me." Yes.
Suffice it to say, I know both David and the Lord fully understand my fears and inner strife.

How thankful I am that His Word brings such comfort in the dark hours of the night.

When Love Fails

You can always tell when humans are behaving badly. You can tell because love fails.

What does it look like when love fails? You know -- well, you know what love looks like:

Love is patient

... kind

... thinks of others and not self

... brags about others, not self

... enjoys others' successes

... never dishonors other people

... is almost always gentle

... forgets and forgives all offenses

... is happy that truth will win

... can discern and reject evil

... is strong, trusting, optimistic, enduring

... is eternal.

It outlasts even other wonderful, miraculous, desirable things.

I've used this scripture as a litmus test this past year to evaluate myself and the interactions I see around me -- on social media or in person. Hold up LOVE, like a mirror, and see if you find yourself there. Usually I don't get past the first two criteria -- am I patient? am I kind? -- before realizing that I am not loving. I am hating. I'm not like Jesus; I'm like the devil. I need to change myself and stop worrying about anybody else changing.

It puts so much in perspective. It seems to me that there's not much in the Bible about bashing the world around us and forcing it to change. There's a lot in the Bible about beating my own heart into compliance and forcing it to soften. The only time I can think of  Jesus (my example, my mentor) exhibiting anger was in church. He didn't go to Rome and lose his temper, but he was upset when the His church was corrupt.

This post is not about any particular events happening now. It applies all the time. Followers of Jesus, we are called to love, and to be known as his followers because we love. Since love outlasts all other things, if we don't succeed with that assignment, nothing else much matters. I Cor. 13 makes that painfully clear. Let's ask ourselves honestly: "What is the loving thing to do, toward my neighbor?" And then, even if you have to change yourself, do it.

The Mothers Around Jesus

I write this post mainly to keep this information in one place where I can find it. It's a little study of the mothers who were close to the circle of Jesus's disciples, and of how these people were related to one another.

We know that John the Baptist was Jesus's cousin; their mothers were relatives, "kinswomen." This family relationship is established early in the gospels. The relationship between Jesus and his cousin John is close. John the Baptizer is the first person Jesus approaches as he enters His ministry. John, who jumped in his mother's womb as an unborn baby when he was in the presence of Jesus, another unborn baby, had known to some extent that Jesus was exceptional all his life.

These three verses are key, regarding the mothers I'm looking at:
Matthew 27:55, 56
Mark15:40, 16:1
John 19:40

The Matthew verse tells us that three women attended Jesus's crucifixion: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James (the Lesser) and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee (James the Greater and John).

The Mark verses tell us that the same three women were there: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Less and Joses, and Salome. It is reasonable to say that Salome is the wife of Zebedee, and therefore the mother of John (the disciple Jesus loved and the author of the five books in the Bible) and James the Greater.

The John verse tells us that four women attended: Mary, Jesus's mother; Jesus's mother's sister (his aunt); Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. From this we deduce that the wife of Clopas is Mary, the mother of James the Lesser and Joses. This Clopas is likely one of the two men on the Emmaus Road (Luke 24:18). The only snag in this theory is that James the Lesser is also called James, son of Alpheus. Did Mary's first husband Alpheus die, and then she married Clopas? Perhaps. It's also possible there are two different Mary's here, the wife of Clopas and the wife of Alpheus.

However, it's Salome I want to focus on. If we read these verses correctly, then Salome is Jesus's aunt, His mother's sister. She's married to Zebedee, and her two sons are James and John, the disciple Jesus loved.

That makes James (the Greater) and John (the beloved disciple) Jesus's first cousins, closer in relationship to Him that John the Baptist. He would have grown up knowing these boys. When Jesus first meets Andrew and Peter (brothers and fishermen), they are in a business relationship with His Uncle Zebedee (also a fisherman) and His two cousins.

Jesus draws His first disciples from among men He'd known for years. They were not strangers, picked out of the crowd. They were relatives, friends, neighbors. Later He did accost men He'd never met before, inviting them to follow Him as a teacher. But He begins with family.

And the women -- isn't it fascinating to know that the women who stayed with Jesus even until His murder, and then His burial, were the mothers of His disciples -- His own aunt? That the strong bond that joined some of these people together was a family tie? That fathers and mothers and sons were all involved, and followed Jesus together?

This understanding gives a little more color to the passage from Matthew 20 in which "the mother of the sons of Zebedee" came to Jesus, bowed before Him, and asked for special privileges and positions of honor for her two sons when Jesus had established Himself as King. She was asking for perks, as His aunt, asking for special treatment for His cousins, her sons. I've always felt this was a rather ugly passage, showing Salome's weakness. It shows how badly she's misunderstood Jesus's goal. She thought Jesus would be handing out positions of power in a new government that would overthrow Rome. Little did she know what she was asking for her sons: a life of martyrdom and suffering.

I hope you enjoyed this little study. If you have additional helpful verses on the subject, please share them in the comments section.

Why Some People Die

This verse has been preying on my brain the past few days.

"The righteous man perishes, and no one takes it to heart;
And the devout men are taken away, while no one understands.
For the righteous man is taken away from evil.
He enters into peace;
They rest in their beds (or perhaps, graves)
Each one who walked in his upright way."
Isaiah 57: 1, 2

At the risk of offending some of my more conservative Christian friends, I'd like to handle the text a bit, and rewrite it my own words:

"A truly good man dies, and everybody is mystified by it.
And people who've served God all their lives die, and we moan, 'Why did they have to die?' because don't understand what's going on.
They died because God was taking them out of this evil, broken world.
The good man is finally at peace.
The godly men are resting safely after devoting themselves to God for a lifetime."

How many times, when someone dies, do we react as if a tragedy has occurred? "But they died!!" we exclaim, as if (of course) dying were the most horrific thing that could happen to anyone. That's a worldly perspective. It's not God's perspective, who orchestrates our deaths and determines our lives afterward. The Christian is delivered from a world full of: danger, evil, meanness, unkindness, uncertainty, fear. He is taken to a place of absolute safety where his needs are fully met and there's nothing to fear ... ever.

And we call that a tragedy. What's wrong with us?

A dear elderly friend said lately, "There's a lot of living going on, both here and in heaven." Her husband died unexpectedly two weeks ago. What a wonderful, clear understanding she has! When I mentioned these verses in Isaiah to her, her eyes lit up, and she knew exactly which verses I meant -- she'd been studying them too.

Her husband has been delivered from all manner of evil, and a weary life. He stepped directly from one life into the other life. He now has everything we all long for.

It's difficult to fight against the mentality of the culture that teaches us to fear death, avoid death, deny death, and treat it as the ultimate human tragedy. Christians should reject this thinking. Neither is death a friend. Death is simply a conquered enemy, lying slain on the field of humanity's battle now, these 2000 years. When a Christian passes from this living into the next living, one of the things he steps over is the limp, dry corpse of death, on that battlefield conquered by Jesus.

Our Politics in Perspective

My attitude toward politics has changed a lot since 1994. In 1994, the Republicans took back a huge portion of the U.S. government under their control, and all the Christians thought our nation was being saved.
We were wrong. Only God saves. And neither the Republican party nor the Democratic party, nor any political group or person, is God. Indeed, political fighting, rather than bringing any increased godliness, seems only to make things worse.

My reading from God's word these days reminded me of God's perspective on the great matters of state that so many Christians spend so much energy studying.

"Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand,

And marked off the heavens by the span,

And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure,

And weighed the mountains in a balance,

And the hills in a pair of scales?

Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, 

Or as His counselor has informed Him?

With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding?

And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge,

And informed Him of the way of understanding?

Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,

And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales;

All the nations are as nothing before Him,

They are regarded by him as less than nothing

and meaningless."

"He it is who reduces rulers to nothing,

Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.

Scarcely have they been planted,

Scarcely have they been sown,

Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth

But He merely blows on them, and they wither

And the storm carries them away like stubble."

Isa. 40:12-17, 23-24

Since Christians already have a King, and a kingdom, and a citizenship in another country, why do we expend so much energy and allegiance on kings, nations, and citizenship that God has said are meaningless? Our only concern for our worldly leaders should be that they be like the real King, to be godly. And as Isaiah also says, when God sits in judgment as a king, the result is the salvation of the humble, the vindication of the poor.

I am saddened when I see Christian friends whose focus is so much on earthly matters that they are of little heavenly good. Let's keep our worldly politics in eternal perspective. 

Washing in the Jordan

How do we clean the sinful mental practices we hide in our brains? You know ... the nasty private habits we don't show anyone:  lust, greed, bitterness, resentment, judgmentalism. There's a long list of thought-sins we practice faithfully. Since they're our little dirty secrets, nobody holds us accountable. Eventually they become entrenched. How do you rid your mind of such things?

Naaman had a nasty physical disease, leprosy. He asked God's prophet how to get it off his body. He didn't like the answer, the cure. "Go wash in the Jordan River," said the man of God. Ugh! The Jordan is disgusting, Naaman thinks. Ha! He doesn't want his skin (his diseased, filthy, leprous skin) next to that murky water. Can't I bathe in a different, cleaner river? he asks. No, there's only one solution: the Jordan.

There's one solution to our diseased minds as well. Adam reminded us of this a couple of weeks ago at church -- the only solution he's ever found for scrubbing the mind clean of filthy, sinful thought-habits. You ready?

Memorizing Scripture.

(Sigh)

Do we have to?? Isn't there an easier solution?

I'm no good at memorizing anymore. My brain is old. Not too old for filthy thought-habits, but much too old to memorize. About ten years ago I memorized Psalm 27, my favorite at the time. That went well. Then a bit later I launched into Isaiah 40. Oh my! I got about half-way through and languished. I haven't memorized anything new since then.

How does one pick a passage to memorize? How long should it be? Which passage is the right one?

After Adam's sermon I asked myself this question: which sinful thought-habit do I really need to get rid of? I knew immediately, of course. My worst mental habit is anxiety, worry, fretting about money and such things. I know I'm not supposed to do it, but I succumb. It shows a lack of trust in God. It shows I haven't learned from His previous provision for me.

And ... what Bible passage might help with such a mental state? I chose Matt. 7:25.

The heading above that verse says it all:

And realizing that I'm a very visual learner, I assisted myself with a piece of paper on which I re-wrote the verse in separated phrase segments, noting parallel structure that would help me memorize, and circling tag words to prompt my brain.

That helped a lot. Lastly, I decided to memorize just one verse. Just this one, first. After mastering this one, if I wanted to add the next and expand it to a passage, I could. I'm never again going to over-challenge myself with a whole chapter only to feel defeated and sad when I couldn't keep it all in my brain. The piece of paper above has a sticky-note back, so it stays on this page in my Bible.
During the day, when I remember, I try to recite the verse to myself, visualizing the paper, the structure, the sense of it. I'm amazed at the meaning I'd overlooked before. When I'm anxious about food, drink, or clothing, I'm actually worshiping those things. I can't worship them and simultaneously worship God. I must choose. This memorizing is a constant reminder to my brain: Choose! Whom do you worship and love?
I nailed verse 25, and now I'm moving on to verse 26. Scrubbing away at that brain. Washing in the Jordan.